When a job title is not just a job title

Social media world leads to slew of gurus

Somebody call Chuck Norris: There's a swarm of ninjas in the workforce - at least, that's what some workers are choosing to call themselves, according to a new analysis of business card trends.

Business card orders show that "ninja" is among the popular monikers out there, as are Rockstar, Guru, Wrangler, Head Cheese and Geek.

All of the terms take a page from the social media world in trading humdrum job descriptions for some personal panache.

"It's a pretty universal trend," says Paul Lewis, head of marketing for Moo. com. "Things like Digital Dynamo, Web Kahuna and Copy Cruncher show that even the most mundane titles can be changed to reflect how you feel about your job, or how you bring your personality to it."

Of course, the practice is hardly the exclusive province of the digital age. For years, Disney has referred to its ride operators as "cast members," Starbucks has dubbed its coffee-slingers "baristas" and Apple has styled its tech specialists "geniuses."

What's changed, Lewis says, is the frequency with which such inventive titles are popping up.

"We're definitely seeing it at all levels, across a wide range of industries," he says. "Tech companies have been showing innovation in their business titles for a while now, but we're also seeing it a lot in jobs ranging from cleaning services to transportation to plumbing. Titles like 'executive' or 'manager' don't have as much meaning in some people's minds nowadays."

And at Google, members of the Canadian team go by such creative monikers as Mad Scientist, Jack of All Trades and Indistinguishable from Magic - the latter of which belongs to software engineer Douglas Gresham, who credits it to a colleague's running joke that solutions to complex problems are "taken care of by the magic of Doug."

If the networking site LinkedIn is any indication, however, the end of traditional job titles is still a long way away - if it's in the cards at all.

Edmonton's Todd Babiak and Shawn Ohler, co-founders of the new strategic consultancy Story Engine, are among those who've opted for straightforward designations; both are dubbed, simply, "director."

"A lot of companies, I think, have paid tens of thousands of dollars to go through crystal-rubbing and drum-beating exercises, testifying and chanting," Babiak says. "We're offering something pragmatic, and we don't want to scare anyone in any corporate boardrooms into thinking we're going to ask them take their shirts off."

Entrepreneur Peter Shankman, who labels himself a Small Business Evangelist, says it ultimately comes down to knowing your audience.

"A creative business card title can show people that you're having fun with what you do," Shankman says.

"But if you work in a funeral home, you probably don't want to have Chief Burier on your card."

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